As the 2024 election season draws nearer, prospective candidates in both parties will be looking for popular outlets through which they can share messages directly with voters.
At this point, only one person — former President Donald Trump — has formally declared his candidacy for president, and recent reports indicate he is considering a return to the social media platforms that banished him in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, protest on Capitol Hill.
Former President Trump is preparing for his return to Facebook and Twitter.
Trump's campaign sent a letter to Meta on Tuesday, petitioning to unblock his Facebook account.
Campaign advisers are workshopping ideas for his first tweet.https://t.co/W0Gcgr5TQ6
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 19, 2023
Although Twitter reinstated his account a short time after Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired and began to revamp that platform, Trump has not posted anything new as of this writing. Prior to his campaign announcement, he indicated that he would limit social media posts to his own platform, Truth Social.
“If I choose to run, I will only use Truth,” he said in October. “When I put out a Truth, it is all over the place.”
It is true that posts on that site are frequently shared via Twitter and other platforms, but Trump has subsequently hinted that he might relent and mount a return to one or more of the larger sites.
Specifically, his campaign is believed to be involved in talks with Facebook executives regarding a possible reinstatement of his suspended account. While access to the millions of potential 2024 voters who use that platform could be beneficial to his bid for a second term, Trump made it clear that he believes he has the upper hand in any negotiations.
In an interview this week, he said that Facebook “needs us more than we need them,” claiming credit for the fact that the tech industry giant has “lost $700 billion” since he was banned.
“It has been considered a major business mistake for them, Twitter, and others,” Trump said. “If they took us back, it would help them greatly, and that’s OK with me.”
As for the status of the ongoing communications, he concluded: “We are talking to them, and we’ll see how it all works out.”
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 campaign, offered additional insight into the process, highlighting the importance of getting the candidate’s message out to the largest audiences possible.
“Free speech is an essential part of democracy and President Trump must be allowed to speak directly to the American people so they can be informed about his vision as they cast their ballots,” he said. “We have seen how Big Tech has tried to silence President Trump and other conservatives, and continuing this abhorrent practice is un-American and undemocratic.”
